What Can I Do

Boycott Clutterbugs

“Lighting clutter” refers to the excessive grouping of lighting, especially illuminated billboards and overly lit-up commercial establishments. You can tell companies why you don’t agree with what they’re doing (detracting from highway safety, in many locations, cluttering the landscape, and wasting energy — in all cases), and inform them you’re patronizing more eco-friendly competitors until they wise up. Will they care? If you get your friends, family and local environmental organizations involved in the letter-writing campaign, they will. And if all of you start writing to local newspapers and raising awareness of the issue, doubly so.

Lobby for a Lights-Out

The 20,000 lights on Paris’s Eiffel Tower were turned off for five minutes earlier in February 2007, in a symbolic gesture aiming to raise awareness about energy consumption and global warming. Start a letter-writing campaign to get your local landmark to follow suit — perhaps on Earth Day/Night. Also, ask local sports arenas and stadiums to turn off lights when games aren’t playing.